Navigating One Water Planning through Municipal Water Programs

Introduction and Project Objectives Today's municipal water utilities are facing unprecedented challenges ranging from current and emerging regulatory drivers, climate change impacts, and affordability challenges while striving to achieve the levels of service that customers expect. Utilities must also address new challenges introduced by Climate Change, which increases the need of One Water approaches. At the same time, emerging contaminants add to the complexity of One Water management, such as the urban water cycle of per-and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS). Water Research Foundation's Navigating One Water Planning through Municipal Water Programs: Meeting Multiple Objectives and Regulatory Challenges (WRF 5175) provides insights and strategies for water utilities to use One Water principles to strategically comply with Clean Water Act (CWA) and Safe Drinking Water Act (SDWA) requirements. This research aims to provide a One Water Planning Guidance that can be tailored to specific programs. This presentation will provide participants with a research approach overview, water sector engagement results, PFAS control strategies, and the initial One Water decision-making framework. We will discuss key challenges facing water utilities, potential regulatory solutions to balance CWA and SDWA obligations, and capital planning approaches to deliver higher value investments. Research Approach The research approach (Figure 1) of this study is a streamlined process of building the vision, an in-depth literature review, meaningful water sector engagement, and the opportunity to update Collaborative Water Quality Solutions: Exploring Use Attainability Analyses (WRF 1186). Using information gathered from the literature reviews and water sector engagements, the project team will develop a comprehensive One Water Planning Guidance document and decision-making framework. Water sector engagement will be a key component of this research, incorporating perspectives from 45 participating utilities throughout the United States and Canada and stakeholders representing regulatory agency representatives, subject matter experts, and sector associations. The final research report will be a utility-facing One Water Planning Guidance. The planning guidance will provide long-term planning strategies using partnerships across water sectors, interconnected CWA and SWDA requirements, regulatory navigation strategies, decision-making frameworks for integrated investments, and linkages to One Water Cities and Program Management (WRF 4969 and 5196). The guidance will include:

*Proven One Water planning approaches.

*A user-friendly decision-making framework that can be applied to municipal programs of all types and sizes.

*Guidance to select appropriate decision-making tools for investment prioritization.

*Proven, collaborative approaches to engage regulators and other stakeholders.

*Recommended implementation strategies that prioritize the simultaneous achievement of financial objectives, community priorities, and regulatory obligations. Preliminary Findings This presentation will share early findings from technical studies and water sector engagement. This targeted outreach seeks to accelerate broad adoption of a One Water approach to identify strategies that address multiple community and environmental objectives while addressing regulations.

*One Water Visioning. Results of the project visioning with the 45 participating utilities, the Project Advisory Committee, and WRF will be presented. This visioning session will collect current and emerging challenges, regulatory issues, and opportunities for multiple benefits from municipal water investments.

*Use Attainability Analysis (UAA) Study. An initial study addresses understanding of Use Attainability Analyses in municipal wastewater and stormwater programs. The focus will be to document identified success factors to use UAAs as a path toward affordable water quality improvements.

*PFAS Guidance. An initial study addresses the challenges presented by PFAS as constituents of emerging concern that transcend traditional water silos of drinking water, wastewater, stormwater, and reclaimed water. This includes interrelated and contradicting regulatory requirements, source control, fate and transport, treatment, and product stewardship.

*Synthesis of One Water Literature. Key findings from published studies of One Water management will capture principles, drivers, approaches, decision analysis methodologies, analytical tools, and implementation examples. The presentation will include a tabulation of Key Metrics for Success.

*One Water Sector Engagement. Strategic engagement is designed to provide valuable insights into key challenges and success factors to direct the One Water Planning Guidance. Results of the engagement activities with the 45 participating utilities and a broad group of water-sector stakeholders will be previewed in this presentation. The initial results of focus groups will be discussed.

*One Water Planning Guidance. The research team will create a One Water decision-making framework based on literature findings, water sector engagement, key success factors, and effective planning methodologies. The presentation will provide the initial decision-making framework and approaches that will be refined through the remaining research effort.